HB3095 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 29060 CPF 55446 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB3095

Introduced 2/17/2023, by Rep. Barbara Hernandez

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

415 ILCS 5/3.134 new
415 ILCS 5/3.535	was 415 ILCS 5/3.53
415 ILCS 5/22.54

Amends the Environmental Protection Act. Categorically excludes limestone residuals generated from the treatment of drinking water at a publicly owned drinking water treatment plant from regulation as a waste under the Act when used for specific beneficial purposes. Describes conditions that must be satisfied to obtain a beneficial use determination from the Environmental Protection Agency for these residuals when put to other beneficial uses. Directs the Pollution Control Board to adopt rules establishing standards and procedures for the Agency's issuance of these beneficial use determinations. Authorizes the Agency to prepare and distribute guidance documents relating to its management of limestone residuals from publicly owned drinking water treatment plant. Makes other changes.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning safety.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Environmental Protection Act is amended by changing Sections 3.535 and 22.54 and by adding Section 3.134 as follows:

(415 ILCS 5/3.134 new)

Sec. 3.134. Limestone Residual materials.

(a) "Limestone residual materials" or "LRM" means limestone residual generated from the treatment of drinking water from a publicly-owned drinking water treatment plant when used beneficially as:

(1) a structural fill, designed and constructed according to American Society of Testing and Materials standard E2277-03 or Department of Transportation specifications, when used in an engineered application or combined with cement, sand, or water to produce a controlled strength fill material and covered with 12 inches of soil unless infiltration is prevented by the material itself or other cover material;

(2) a mine subsidence fill or a material for mine fire control, mine sealing, or mine reclamation; or

(3) a functionally equivalent substitute for agricultural limestone at rates necessary for the pH adjustment of soil.

(b) Except to the extent that the uses are otherwise authorized by law without such restrictions, the uses of limestone residual materials specified in subsection (a) shall be subject to the following conditions:

(1) The LRM must only be generated from the treatment of drinking water by a municipal utility in a Class I city and have a calcium carbonate equivalent greater than 85%.

(2) The LRM must not have been mixed with any waste, hazardous or otherwise, prior to use.

(3) The LRM must not exceed Class I Groundwater standards for metals when tested utilizing test method American Society of Testing and Materials D3987-85.

(4) The LRM must not be accumulated speculatively. Limestone residual materials are not accumulated speculatively if, during any 12-month period, the limestone residual materials used are equal to 75% of the limestone residual materials by weight or volume accumulated at the beginning of the period.

(c) Any person using limestone residual materials for any of the purposes described in subsection (a) and meeting the conditions of subsection (b) of this Section shall provide an annual notification to the Agency for each project utilizing limestone residual materials documenting the quantity of limestone residual materials utilized and shall certify compliance with the conditions contained in subsection (b).

(d) To encourage and promote the use of limestone residual materials in productive and beneficial applications, the Agency shall, upon request by the applicant, make a written beneficial use determination that limestone residual generated from the treatment of drinking water is limestone residual materials when used in a manner other than those uses specified in subsection (a) of this Section if the applicant demonstrates that use of the limestone residual satisfies all of the following criteria: (i) the use will not cause, threaten, or allow the discharge of any contaminant into the environment; (ii) the use will otherwise protect human health and safety and the environment; and (iii) the use constitutes a legitimate use of the lime sludge as an ingredient or raw material that is an effective substitute for an analogous ingredient or raw material.

Within 90 days after the receipt of an application for a beneficial use determination under this subsection, the Agency shall, in writing, approve, disapprove, or approve with conditions the beneficial use. Any disapproval or approval with conditions shall include the Agency's reasons for the disapproval or conditions. Failure of the Agency to issue a decision within 90 days shall constitute disapproval of the beneficial use request. The beneficial use determinations described in this Section are subject to review under Section 40 of this Act.

Any approval of a beneficial use under this subsection shall become effective upon the date of the Agency's written decision and shall remain in effect for a period of 10 years. If an applicant desires to continue a beneficial use after the expiration of the 10-year period, the applicant must submit an application for renewal no later than 90 days prior to the expiration. The beneficial use approval shall be automatically extended unless denied by the Agency in writing with the Agency's reasons for disapproval, or unless the Agency has requested an extension for review, in which case the use will continue to be allowed until an Agency determination is made.

Limestone residual for which a beneficial use is approved pursuant to this subsection shall be considered limestone residual materials during the effective period of the approval, as long as it is used in accordance with the approval and any specified conditions.

Notwithstanding the other provisions of this subsection, written beneficial use determination applications for the use of limestone residual materials at sites governed by the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 or the rules and regulations thereunder, or by any law or rule or regulation adopted by the State pursuant thereto, shall be reviewed and approved by the Office of Mines and Minerals within the Department of Natural Resources pursuant to 62 Ill. Adm. Code 1700 through 1850. Further, appeals of those determinations shall be made pursuant to the Illinois Administrative Review Law.

The Board shall adopt rules establishing standards and procedures for the Agency's issuance of beneficial use determinations under this subsection. The Board rules may also, but are not required to, include standards and procedures for the revocation of the beneficial use determinations. Prior to the effective date of Board rules adopted under this subsection, the Agency is authorized to make beneficial use determinations in accordance with this subsection.

The Agency is authorized to prepare and distribute guidance documents relating to its administration of this Section. Guidance documents prepared under this subsection are not rules for the purposes of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.

(415 ILCS 5/3.535) (was 415 ILCS 5/3.53)

Sec. 3.535. Waste. "Waste" means any garbage, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility or other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows, or limestone residual materials as defined in Section 3.134, or coal combustion by-products as defined in Section 3.135, or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as now or hereafter amended, or source, special nuclear, or by-product materials as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (68 Stat. 921) or any solid or dissolved material from any facility subject to the Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (P.L. 95-87) or the rules and regulations thereunder or any law or rule or regulation adopted by the State of Illinois pursuant thereto.

(Source: P.A. 92-574, eff. 6-26-02.)

(415 ILCS 5/22.54)

Sec. 22.54. Beneficial Use Determinations. The purpose of this Section is to allow the Agency to determine that a material otherwise required to be managed as waste may be managed as non-waste if that material is used beneficially and in a manner that is protective of human health and the environment.

(a) To the extent allowed by federal law, the Agency may, upon the request of an applicant, make a written determination that a material is used beneficially (rather than discarded) and, therefore, not a waste if the applicant demonstrates all of the following:

(1) The chemical and physical properties of the material are comparable to similar commercially available materials.

(2) The market demand for the material is such that all of the following requirements are met:

(A) The material will be used within a reasonable time.

(B) The material's storage prior to use will be minimized.

(C) The material will not be abandoned.

(3) The material is legitimately beneficially used. For the purposes of this item (3) of subsection (a) of this Section, a material is "legitimately beneficially used" if the applicant demonstrates all of the following:

(A) The material is managed separately from waste, as a valuable material, and in a manner that maintains its beneficial usefulness, including, but not limited to, storing in a manner that minimizes the material's loss and maintains its beneficial usefulness.

(B) The material is used as an effective substitute for a similar commercially available material. For the purposes of this paragraph (B) of item (3) of subsection (a) of this Section, a material is "used as an effective substitute for a commercially available material" if the applicant demonstrates one or more of the following:

(i) The material is used as a valuable raw material or ingredient to produce a legitimate end product.

(ii) The material is used directly as a legitimate end product in place of a similar commercially available product.

(iii) The material replaces a catalyst or carrier to produce a legitimate end product.

The applicant's demonstration under this paragraph (B) of item (3) of subsection (a) of this Section must include, but is not limited to, a description of the use of the material, a description of the use of the legitimate end product, and a demonstration that the use of the material is comparable to the use of similar commercially available products.

(C) The applicant demonstrates all of the following:

(i) The material is used under paragraph (B) of item (3) of subsection (a) of this Section within a reasonable time.

(ii) The material's storage prior to use is minimized.

(iii) The material is not abandoned.

(4) The management and use of the material will not cause, threaten, or allow the release of any contaminant into the environment, except as authorized by law.

(5) The management and use of the material otherwise protects human health and safety and the environment.

(b) Applications for beneficial use determinations must be submitted on forms and in a format prescribed by the Agency. Agency approval, approval with conditions, or disapproval of an application for a beneficial use determination must be in writing. Approvals with conditions and disapprovals of applications for a beneficial use determination must include the Agency's reasons for the conditions or disapproval, and they are subject to review under Section 40 of this Act.

(c) Beneficial use determinations shall be effective for a period approved by the Agency, but that period may not exceed 5 years. Material that is beneficially used (i) in accordance with a beneficial use determination, (ii) during the effective period of the beneficial use determination, and (iii) by the recipient of a beneficial use determination shall maintain its non-waste status after the effective period of the beneficial use determination unless its use no longer complies with the terms of the beneficial use determination or the material otherwise becomes waste.

(d) No recipient of a beneficial use determination shall manage or use the material that is the subject of the determination in violation of the determination or any conditions in the determination, unless the material is managed as waste.

(e) A beneficial use determination shall terminate by operation of law if, due to a change in law, it conflicts with the law; however, the recipient of the determination may apply for a new beneficial use determination that is consistent with the law as amended.

(f) This Section does not apply to hazardous waste, coal combustion waste, coal combustion by-product, limestone residual materials, sludge applied to the land, potentially infectious medical waste, or used oil.

(g) This Section does not apply to material that is burned for energy recovery, that is used to produce a fuel, or that is otherwise contained in a fuel. The prohibition in this subsection (g) does not apply to any dust suppressants applied to a material that is (i) burned for energy recovery, (ii) used to produce a fuel, or (iii) otherwise contained in a fuel.

(h) This Section does not apply to waste from the steel and foundry industries that is (i) classified as beneficially usable waste under Board rules and (ii) beneficially used in accordance with Board rules governing the management of beneficially usable waste from the steel and foundry industries. This Section does apply to other beneficial uses of waste from the steel and foundry industries, including, but not limited to, waste that is classified as beneficially usable waste but not used in accordance with the Board's rules governing the management of beneficially usable waste from the steel and foundry industries. No person shall use iron slags, steelmaking slags, or foundry sands for land reclamation purposes unless they have obtained a beneficial use determination for such use under this Section.

(i) For purposes of this Section, the term "commercially available material" means virgin material that (i) meets industry standards for a specific use and (ii) is normally sold for such use. For purposes of this Section, the term "commercially available product" means a product made of virgin material that (i) meets industry standards for a specific use and (ii) is normally sold for such use.

(j) Before issuing a beneficial use determination for the beneficial use of asphalt shingles, the Agency shall conduct an evaluation of the applicant's prior experience in asphalt shingle recycling operations. The Agency may deny such a beneficial use determination if the applicant, or any employee or officer of the applicant, has a history of any one or more of the following related to the operation of asphalt shingle recycling operation facilities or sites:

(1) repeated violations of federal, State, or local laws, rules, regulations, standards, or ordinances;

(2) conviction in a court of this State or another state of any crime that is a felony under the laws of this State;

(3) conviction in a federal court of any crime that is a felony under federal law;

(4) conviction in a court of this State or another state, or in a federal court, of forgery, official misconduct, bribery, perjury, or knowingly submitting false information under any environmental law, rule, regulation, or permit term or condition; or

(5) gross carelessness or incompetence in the handling, storing, processing, transporting, disposing, or recycling of asphalt shingles.

(Source: P.A. 98-296, eff. 1-1-14; 99-89, eff. 1-1-16.)